raven_albion ([info]raven_albion) wrote,
@ 2009-02-16 11:00:00
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Current location:home
Current mood: meh.
Entry tags:garden, outings, work

Garden + spring shindig updates
"President's Day" holiday today, so I'm off, for which I will pay in blood and lost sleep for the rest of the month, most likely. We've got corporate strategic planning for a day-and-a-half this week, too, meaning that I've two and a half days in which to do 5 days of work. MEH.

Planted a flat of red onions yesterday. Need to get new full-spectrum bulbs for the seed starting rack...like yesterday. I think I only have one shelf's worth of working bulbs left. Spent a fair bit of time yesterday working on planting schedules and square-footage requirements...how is it that even with a new potential 5,000 square feet of space, I still run out of room for what I want to grow? (Not to mention that, if half of the planned veggies actually get to maturity, we're going to need a much better storage system than what we've got.)

It's looking like the Urban Homestead Snow's Last Hurrah Spring Soiree will be the weekend of March 28. Mark your calendars!

If the link above is locked for you, here are the particulars: Directions (and/or excursions, depending on interest) to ski areas or snowshoe trails, good company, Boston-area and hopefully some central VT Irish music folk, at least one bottle of Ardbeg, a lot of house-made hard cider, a couple spare bedrooms and a bunch of floor space, a few extra air mattresses, and endless breakfast in the morning. Please feel free to forward to like-minded folks are not LJ-equipped.




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[info]sinthrex
2009-02-16 08:28 pm UTC (link)
I'll have to see what the schedule in CT is before I commit.

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[info]raven_albion
2009-02-18 01:13 am UTC (link)
Fair enough. It's about 4 hours to drive from Hartford to Montpelier, FYI. I know you'll be a bit farther south than that, but on a weekend I don't think it'll add more than half an hour...huh. Yeah. Google Maps says 4h 12min.

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Tell me, oh garden goddess...
[info]amazon_42
2009-02-16 08:54 pm UTC (link)
Off the cuff...have ou ever grown poppies from seed? I know they're suposed to go in in the fall, but will spring do just as well, do you think? I'd rather pay a couple dollars for seed than 15 per plant, and the packet lists them as "easy".

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Re: Tell me, oh garden goddess...
[info]raven_albion
2009-02-18 01:21 am UTC (link)
If you're talking semi-perennial, oriental-style poppies, I've never grown them. If you're talking annual poppies, I can't get rid of them. Surface sow (meaning just scatter the seeds about and don't bother to cover them with soil) and keep the soil moist until you see feathery-leafed sprouts. If you let them go to seed, if they are not hybrid varieties they will self-sow and you'll likely not be rid of them without a concerted effort. However, varieties will cross, so if you are trying to preserve a particular variety (like, for instance, bread-seed poppies) I suggest only growing that variety.

FWIW, I have only ever planted poppies in the spring, and I'm in zone 4. I think the idea behind planting them in the fall is that the sprouts will be able to take advantage of the early-season soil moisture of melting snow and spring rain.

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Re: Tell me, oh garden goddess...
[info]amazon_42
2009-02-19 04:32 am UTC (link)
Are bread and pastry poppies oriental or regular annual?

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Re: Tell me, oh garden goddess...
[info]raven_albion
2009-02-19 01:01 pm UTC (link)
Regular annual.

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